Toy brick and storage space combination assembly

ABSTRACT

A toy brick and storage space combination assembly includes a mounting brick that has a plurality of sides including a top side, a bottom side, a front side, rear side, a first lateral side, and a second lateral side. A plurality of male interconnection members is integrally coupled to the top side of the mounting brick and extending away therefrom. A female interconnection member extends into and is integral to the bottom side of the mounting brick. The male and female interconnection members releasably engage bricks from a building brick system and engage male and female interconnection members of other mounting bricks. The front side of the mounting brick is open to define an access to an interior of the mounting brick to facilitate the positioning of articles within the mounting brick. The access is the only opening into the interior.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR ASA TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the Invention (2) Descriptionof Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and1.98

The disclosure and prior art relates to building brick devices and moreparticularly pertains to a new building brick device for holding smallarticles within a larger structure of toy building bricks.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above bygenerally comprising a mounting brick that has a plurality of sidesincluding a top side, a bottom side, a front side, rear side, a firstlateral side, and a second lateral side. A plurality of maleinterconnection members is integrally coupled to the top side of themounting brick and extending away therefrom. A female interconnectionmember extends into and is integral to the bottom side of the mountingbrick. The male and female interconnection members releasably engagebricks from a building brick system and engage male and femaleinterconnection members of other mounting bricks. The front side of themounting brick is open to define an access to an interior of themounting brick to facilitate the positioning of articles within themounting brick. The access is the only opening into the interior.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more importantfeatures of the disclosure in order that the detailed descriptionthereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that thepresent contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There areadditional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafterand which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features ofnovelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisdisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than thoseset forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to thefollowing detailed description thereof. Such description makes referenceto the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top front perspective view of a toy brick and storage spacecombination assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a bottom front perspective view of an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a broken front perspective view of an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through6 thereof, a new building brick device embodying the principles andconcepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated bythe reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 6, the toy brick and storagespace combination assembly 10 generally comprises a mounting brick 12that has a plurality of sides including a top side 14, a bottom side 16,a front side 18, rear side 20, a first lateral side 22, and a secondlateral side 24. The mounting brick 12 may come in any conventional sizefor use with toy building brick systems but typically the mounting brick12 will have a height, length and width each being less than 3.5 inches.The mounting brick(s) 12 may also come in different sizes and shapes ascan be seen be FIGS. 3 and 4. A plurality of male interconnectionmembers 26 is integral to the top side 14 of the mounting brick 12 andextends away therefrom. A female interconnection member 28 extends intoand is integral to the bottom side of the mounting brick 12.

The male 26 and female 28 interconnection members are configured toreleasably engage bricks from a building brick system and to engage male26 and female 28 interconnection members of other ones of the buildingbrick assembly 10. Thus, while the assembly 10 may be used with bricksalready commercially available, the assembly 10 may include a pluralityof interconnectable mounting bricks 12.

Brick systems utilizing similar structures for frictionally couplingtogether toy bricks 30 are ubiquitous in the toy arts and are found inmultiple references such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282. These toy bricks 30may be found, for instance, being sold under the names Lego and Duplo.Generally, the male interconnection member 26 includes one or more maleprotrusions that extend upwardly from an upper surface of the toy brick30. The female interconnection member 28 includes one or more recessesfor receiving the male interconnection member 26 that would be found onthe toy bricks 30. The recesses may be formed in any conventionalmanner.

The front side 18 of the mounting brick 12 is open to define an access32 to an interior 34 of the mounting brick 12. The access 32 maycomprise the only opening into the interior 34. The access 32 extendsfrom a top wall 36 to a bottom wall 38 of the mounting brick 12 and mayextend from a first lateral wall 40 to a second lateral wall 42. Theaccess 32 allows for any article, and in particular small toys, toyfigurines and accessories therefore, to be stored or hidden within theassembly 10 as the child plays with the mounting brick 12.

A dividing wall 44 may be positioned in the interior 34. The dividingwall 44 may be used to divide the interior 34 into an upper receivingspace 46 and a lower receiving space 48, wherein the upper receivingspace 46 is positioned adjacent to the top wall 36. The dividing wall 44may be fixed in position or be slidably mounted on a pair of guides 50attached to the mounting brick 12 such that the dividing wall 44 isremovable from the mounting brick. The guides 50 extend from the access32 to a back wall 52 of the mounting brick 12. This allows a person tocustomize the interior depending on the size of the toy(s) to bepositioned therein.

Also, a door 54 may be positioned on the mounting brick 12 and bepositioned in a closed position closing the access 32 or an openposition exposing the access 32 and the interior 34. The door 54 may bepivotally coupled to the mounting brick 12 in a conventional manner suchas, for example, by pins, not shown, positioned on the door 54 whichextend into the mounting brick 12 to pivotally hold the door 54 inplace. The door 54 may frictionally engage an interior surface of theaccess 32 to retain the door 54 in the closed position and a grip 56 maybe provided to facilitate moving of the door 54 from the closed positionto the open position.

In use, the mounting brick 12 may be used as conventional building toybrick to create a layered structure of toy bricks or “bricks.” However,the mounting brick 12 of the assembly 10 allows a person using themounting brick to store, hide, or display articles, such as accessoriesfor figurines, small toys or small figurines, within the mounting brick.The mounting brick 12 may be comprised of any conventional material usedfor mounting bricks, however, while the mounting brick 12, dividing wall44 and door 54 would each typically be opaque, each may also becomprised of a transparent plastic material to allow viewing of thearticle through the mounting brick 12 from all directions.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized thatthe optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodimentenabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials,shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, aredeemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and allequivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings anddescribed in the specification are intended to be encompassed by anembodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of theprinciples of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of thedisclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used inits non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word areincluded, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. Areference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not excludethe possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless thecontext clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.

1. A building brick assembly configured to store small toy articles andto engage a brick system, said building brick assembly comprising: amounting brick having a plurality of sides including a top side, abottom side, a front side, rear side, a first lateral side, and a secondlateral side, said top and bottom sides being positioned opposite ofeach other, said first and second lateral sides being positionedopposite of each other, said front side and said rear side beingpositioned opposite of each other, said front, rear, first lateral andsecond lateral sides extending between each of said top and bottomsides, said top and bottom sides lying in planes being orientatedparallel to each other and said planes being spaced from each other,each of said top, bottom, front, rear first lateral and second lateralsides each being positioned on an exterior surface of said mountingbrick; a plurality of male interconnection members being integrallycoupled to said top side of said mounting brick and extending awaytherefrom; a female interconnection member extending into and beingintegral to said bottom side of said mounting brick, each of said maleand female interconnection members being positioned outside of aninterior of said mounting brick; said male and female interconnectionmembers being configured to releasably engage bricks from a buildingbrick system and to engage male and female interconnection members ofother ones of said building brick assembly; and said front side of saidmounting brick being open to define an access to said interior of saidmounting brick, said access being an only opening into said interior. 2.The building brick assembly according to claim 1, wherein said accessextends from a top wall to a bottom wall of said mounting brick, saidtop wall including said top side, said bottom wall including said bottomside.
 3. The building brick assembly according to claim 1, furtherincluding a dividing wall being positioned in said interior, saiddividing wall lying in a plane orientated parallel to said planes ofsaid top and bottom sides and being spaced from said planes of said topand bottom sides, said dividing wall abutting a back wall of said brick,said back wall including said rear side.
 4. The building brick assemblyaccording to claim 3, wherein said dividing wall divides said interiorinto an upper receiving space and a lower receiving space, said upperreceiving space being positioned adjacent to a top wall of said mountingbrick, said upper receiving space extending upwardly from said dividingwall to said top wall, said lower receiving space extending downwardlyfrom said dividing wall to said bottom wall.
 5. The building brickassembly according to claim 3, wherein said dividing wall is slidablymounted on a pair of guides attached to said mounting brick such thatsaid dividing wall is removable from said mounting brick.
 6. Thebuilding brick assembly according to claim 1, further including a doorbeing positioned on mounting brick and being positioned in a closedposition closing said access or an open position exposing said accessand said interior.
 7. The building brick assembly according to claim 6,said door being pivotally mounted to said mounting brick.
 8. A buildingbrick assembly configured to store small toy articles and to engage abrick system, said building brick assembly comprising: a mounting brickhaving a plurality of sides including a top side, a bottom side, a frontside, rear side, a first lateral side, and a second lateral side, saidtop and bottom sides being positioned opposite of each other, said firstand second lateral sides being positioned opposite of each other, saidfront side and said rear side being positioned opposite of each other,said front, rear, first lateral and second lateral sides extendingbetween each of said top and bottom sides, said top and bottom sideslying in planes being orientated parallel to each other and said planesbeing spaced from each other, each of said top, bottom, front, rearfirst lateral and second lateral sides each being positioned on anexterior surface of said mounting brick; a plurality of maleinterconnection members being integrally coupled to said top side ofsaid mounting brick and extending away therefrom; a femaleinterconnection member extending into and being integral to said bottomside of said mounting brick, each of said male and femaleinterconnection members being positioned outside of an interior of saidmounting brick; said male and female interconnection members beingconfigured to releasably engage bricks from a building brick system andto engage male and female interconnection members of other ones of saidbuilding brick assembly; said front side of said mounting brick beingopen to define an access to an interior of said mounting brick, saidaccess being an only opening into said interior, said access extendingfrom a top wall to a bottom wall of said mounting brick; a dividing wallbeing positioned in said interior, said dividing wall dividing saidinterior into an upper receiving space and a lower receiving space, saidupper receiving space being positioned adjacent to said top wall, saiddividing wall being slidably mounted on guides attached to said mountingbrick such that said dividing wall is removable from said mountingbrick, said dividing wall lying in a plane orientated parallel to saidplanes of said top and bottom sides and being spaced from said planes ofsaid top and bottom sides, said dividing wall abutting a back wall ofsaid brick, said back wall including said rear side, said upperreceiving space extending upwardly from said dividing wall to said topwall, said lower receiving space extending downwardly from said dividingwall to said bottom wall; and a door being positioned on mounting brickand being positioned in a closed position closing said access or an openposition exposing said access and said interior, said door beingpivotally coupled to said mounting brick.